My favorite lessons

Musical Experiments

Students were learning about the contemporary and post-modern period, and composers like John Cage, Steve Reich, and Arnold Schoenberg who sought to bring about change in music through new musical experiments like phase shifting, serialism, and asking the question “What is music?”.

I asked the students to create their own musical experiment, either through live performance, or in a DAW. As a class, we decided to focus our experiments on three main ideas: Style Mash-ups, experimental electronic techniques, and experimental performance techniques. If live, they had to create a piece of sheet music which included information on instruments, speed, volume, and any special instructions, so others can replicate the musical experiment. If on a DAW, I asked them to create a document explaining the thought process and execution behind their experiment idea.

I then assessed their creations by grading them on a rubric for originality, effort, and the quality of their written sheet music or experiment document (which was graded using the partner-teacher writing rubric we developed)

My favorite creation was an Indian Tabla/Jazz fusion which is linked below, and a choreographed boom whacker battle using perfect 4ths and 5ths!

FILM COMPOSERS (ALMOST)

At the beginning of our film music unit, I gave the students a list of songs from recent and not so recent movies, and simply asked them to find a clip on youtube or a free stock footage site to fit a song. Then I asked them to defend their connection with a paragraph that I graded using our writing rubric.

I got tons of cool submissions, but below are my two favorites!

Playlist Curators

We were discussing the ways music impacts our lives, and some jobs in the music industry you never think about. I wanted to teach the students about background music, and the ways it shapes our experience in public places. We discussed Erik Satie’s “Furniture Music” and of course, “Muzak”.

I then “hired” the students to curate a playlist of background music for a randomly generated client. The students were given information about the store’s merchandise, pricing, and customer base, and then were tasked with creating a 10 song playlist to fit the vibe.

Next, the students anonymously “shopped” at each other’s stores, and rated how well the music fit the store. I asked each student to reflect on if they thought their rating was accurate, and combined their reflection grade, their peer’s rating, and my own, to give each student their score on the assignment.